Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at the negotiations on the closure of the Iranian nuclear dossier that his country will not allow Western foreigners to talk with Iranian scientists.
"They say we should let them interview our nuclear scientists, and I said that this means interrogation. I will not let foreigners talk to our scientists who brought us this extensive nuclear knowledge," he said.
"We will not allow the privacy of our nuclear scientists or any other important issue to be violated," Khamenei stressed.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made a similar statement. "No deal may contain provisions that allow access to the technological and military secrets of the country. Access of the IAEA inspectors to Iranian sites should be managed in accordance with the Additional Protocol in the Non-Proliferation Treaty," he said.
A senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Vladimir Sazhin, told Vestnik Kavkaza that he expressed fears that such a tightening of the rhetoric of Tehran "complicates the negotiating process, which is now, as we know, coming to an end, there are only 1.5 months left before a final agreement or treaty on the Iranian nuclear issue is concluded."
"With regard to the technology, no one claims there is secret Iranian non-nuclear related technology. However, all of the technologies which are related to nuclear power are subject to examination and verification by the IAEA. Therefore, if we talk about Iranians keeping a secret, this is right, but as far as nuclear technology is here, sorry, the rules of the IAEA are operating," the expert added.
According to Sazhin, such harsh statements of Iran's leaders are largely due to the political situation in the republic. "So, of course, Hassan Rouhani is in a very difficult situation. On the one hand, he has to resolve the nuclear issue problem, that is, compromise with the P5+1. On the other hand, he cannot show any weakness," Vladimir Sazhin concluded.
